Extra notes for Chapter 8 Non-progressive vs progressive aspect

Introduction
Aspect is the grammatical form used by a speaker in taking a particular view of a situation that includes
time schemas. English has two aspects: the non-progressive, or simple, aspect, and the progressive aspect.
The perfect is, strictly speaking, a combination of aspect and tense, rather than a way of expressing pure
aspect.
But aspect is not just a grammatical choice: it is also inherent in the meaning of verbs, i.e. in the lexical
semantics of verbs. Chapter 8 focuses on grammatical and lexical aspect, and how the two can be
combined to express the time schema of any given situation.

Lexical aspect (Aktionsart)

The most important distinguishing feature within Aktionsart is telicity (vs. atelicity). A telic verb denotes a
situation which has a beginning, a duration (of any length), and an end. It is therefore bounded in time
(rather like the way that countable nouns are bounded in space).

Aspect can therefore also be applied to the semantic features of verbs or, more specifically, of verbs and
their predicates. Why is it important to include the verbs predicates (direct object or complement)?
Because the meaning of a verb changes when used transitively or intransitively. As Rothstein (2004) tells us:
... a classification [of situation types] into states, activities, achievements and accomplishments is very
useful in terms of predicting the linguistic behavior of verbal predicates (2004: 3, my emphasis). We can
add another category to this list: acts.

Notice that there is a difference between intransitive and transitive uses of the same verb, because the
inclusion of the direct object both delimits the scope of the action and specifies its target or purpose.
Rothstein continues: lexical aspectual classes are not generalizations over verb meanings, but sets of
constraints on how the grammar allows us to individuate events. Telicity and atelicity are properties of verb
phrases, and the status of the [verb phrase] with respect to telicity will depend on the interaction of the
meaning of the [verb] with other elements in the [verb phrase]. (ibid.: 4)

The direct object of the transitive verb can range from the vague to the specific: compare I need to read
something about Aktionsart with Im going to read this book. When the something is a bounded object
like a book, the act of reading it also has to be bounded (the action and its predicate are inter-related). In
this way, telic events can be considered as types of THINGS (bounded, heterogeneous, countable) while, on
the other hand, atelic events are much more like STUFF (unbounded, homogeneous, uncountable)

e.g. read [a book].

[START] You open the book and start reading it (normally on the first page).
[DURATION] You continue reading page-by-page, gradually progressing through the book. This may
be an uninterrupted process or involve starts and stops
[END] Eventually you reach the end of the book, at which point you are forced to stop reading.
Notice how the boundedness of the book makes the transitive verbs duration also
delimitable. This is a form of semantic coercion (Pustejovsky 2004), i.e. words forcing their
neighbouring words to assume modified meanings.

e.g. read (intransitive)

[START] You start reading.
With intransitive read, what you are reading is not mentioned and remains undefined. The
focus is entirely on the action of reading, not on the purpose of the action.
The reading matter nature cannot be determined (it is undifferentiated and thus is
seen as being homogeneous)
Its quantity (size/shape, etc.) is unknown (it is unbounded in space and time)
[DURATION] You continue reading an indefinite quantity of text for an undefined amount of time.
[END] At some point you decide you have read enough.
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Extra notes for Chapter 8 Non-progressive vs progressive aspect

This decision is not determined by external factors (i.e. boundedness, as is the case in
finishing a book) but by personal considerations, e.g. I have read as much as I feel I need
to; I have no time left to continue reading, I want to do something else, etc.

Notice also when interpreting the meaning of a situation, there is (virtually always) a strict sense and a
loose sense from which to choose. The strict sense of read a book is to open the book, start reading,
and not interrupt reading until the entire book has been read. The loose sense of read a book is to start
reading at some point in time, continue reading at intervals, and eventually complete it. In both cases there
is a start, a duration and an end; in the second case, however, we can talk of sub-events in the reading
process. In other words, the reading is not done in a continuous stream, but in a series of episodes, each of
which involves a start, a duration, and an end. Most reading of books is done episodically, so this is the
default interpretation. If you (like me!) sometimes read a whole book without taking a break, you would
emphasize that information by adding an adjunct of time or manner:
I read it in one go/ in one sitting
I read it without even stopping to eat
I stayed up all night to finish it

From this extended example of read, we can notice one further feature. If I use read in the present
simple, this tense provides a default interpretation for habit and states, so I read [rd] a lot of fantasy
fiction tells you that in general I spend my time reading this genre, while in order to focus on reading as an
action or process, I am obliged to use the progressive Im reading Fools Assassin. Neither of these
present tenses implies the completion of reading books: that can only be communicated by using the
perfective, specifically the present perfect I have read a lot of fantasy fiction= I have completed reading
many books in this genre; I have(just) read Fools Assassin =I have (recently) completed reading this book.
However, If I shift my focus into the past, something interesting happens: because the past simple is
strongly associated with completed actions, the default interpretation of I read [red] a lot of fantasy
fiction emphasises not that I have completed lots of these books but that I no longer read this genre. This
default option can be suppressed by adding adjuncts of time or manner to the phrase.

Summary
Telic verbs have a start and an end. The duration may be in focus or defocused.
Some situations have a clear start, duration and end, and we will call these Accomplishments. Typical
accomplishments involve a series of sub-events in their duration phase, i.e. the accomplishment is
completed after a series of smaller actions have been performed.
However, not all situations are accomplishments. Some do not have a clear beginning: their action is
focused on their end-point. These are often known as resultatives, but in Cognitive Grammar we call
them Achievements.
Alternatively, some situations have no duration as such, but start and end at the same time: we will call
these (punctual) Acts.

Atelic verbs only have duration, i.e. the start and end are totally defocused.
There are two types of atelic verbs, which will be familiar to you from the general distinction made in
English grammar between state verbs and action verbs. We have just seen that telic actions can be classed
as one of Accomplishments, Achievements or Acts.
Atelic actions focus on the durational phase only, which consists of one, continuous action. In Cognitive
Grammar, these are called Activities.
States are also atelic (they come into being, and may end sometime, but the focus is on their
existence/permanence).
States may be everlasting (always true), habitual, or indefinitely lasting.
An indefinitely-lasting state can be converted into a temporary state by using the progressive
aspect and/or time adjuncts.

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Extra notes for Chapter 8 Non-progressive vs progressive aspect

TASK
Decide whether these situations (verb phrases) are telic or atelic, by considering whether they have a clear beginning, duration, and end. Mark as defocused
any of these phases that may be implicit but are not relevant to the meaning being expressed.
START DURATION END Action/State
clear defocused clear defocused clear defocused Type
Research [a topic]
Develop [an argument]
Repeat [a word]
Teach [a lesson]
Teach [a subject]

Keep fit
Work out
Race
Run [a race]
Finish [a race]
Win [a race]

Cook
Bake [a cake]
Season [a dish]
Stir [a sauce]
Flip [a pancake]
Cut [a slice of bread]
Spread [some Nutella on your bread]